Cleveland is playing the part of New York City in The Avengers, and a new batch of set photos reveal just how gigantic a battle Earth's Mightiest Heroes will have to survive if they want to save the world.

Also, new set photos reveal an aerial accident in The Dark Knight Rises.

Rhys Ifans explains why the Lizard is a dark reflection of Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man.

The Avengers

A few more details have been revealed about the movie's use of the NASA Plum Brook facility near Sandusky, Ohio. It appears that the building will actually appear as itself, or at least as some NASA facility, because S.H.I.E.L.D. actually teams up with NASA during the movie. Also, it has been confirmed that the main cast members present for this filming will be Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Renner as Nick Fury and Hawkeye, respectively. Looking ahead, filming will reportedly move to Cleveland's East Ninth Street, which is doubling for New York and reportedly is being made to look like "a superhero war zone." [AceShowbiz.com]

The Dark Knight Rises

We saw some of the first set footage of what we can only assume is the Batwing in action over the weekend, and now here's an unplanned sequel - specifically, set photos of the Batwing crashing back to earth after an accident on set. Filming was halted for an hour, but thankfully no one was hurt. Anyway, you can see some photos of the Batwing and the camouflage-colored Tumblers, plus some shots of Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon on top of a heavily armored truck. [The Daily Mail]

Man, details of The Dark Knight Rises keeps leaking out of Pittsburgh like they're being held…
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The Amazing Spider-Man

Rhys Ifans, who plays Dr. Curt Connors and his villainous alter ego the Lizard, explains how his character's journey relates to Peter Parker's:

Absolutely, Curt Connors is by no stretch an evil villain. He's not like the Batman villains, like the Joker, who are the embodiment of evil. Curtis Connors is a great man who makes a bad decision. That's the whole magic of the Spider-Man idea. These people are the embodiment of our flaws and our desires that lead to tragedy. Curt Connors is a man with one arm and he wants to grow his arm back. He has access to a science that can enable that. But he has to make a moral decision, an ethical decision, to achieve that. In a story both he and Peter Parker are presented with these amazing abilities, and it's about this gift that life gives us. More than any other super-hero, Spider-Man presents us with something very local in its ethics. It's not messianic. It's far more tangible. He is, again, a working-class hero.

There's more at the link, including Ifans's thoughts on "the poetry of the hero." [Hero Complex]

Avatar 2 and 3

Sam Worthington provides an update on where the upcoming sequels stand:

"I know he's nutting out like a bible at the moment. [It's] sort of like a precursor of Avatar 1, to just get himself back into the world and the mindset and the characters...Jim's the person who will tell me when to show up," he laughed. "I've talked to him, he's told me what his plans for the story are, and it's huge. It's just monumental. But he's not going to start until he raises the bar for himself, and he's in no rush...That's how he works – it's very detailed and very weighty. But the story arc is huge; I needed a break halfway through because I was exhausted. It was insane, but it's amazing. It's going to be amazing."

Prometheus

Watchmen and Little Children actor Patrick Wilson has joined the cast in an as-yet-unspecified role. Since the movie is deep into production, he's presumably been involved for some time, but it's only now that his involvement has become official. [/Film]

Conan the Barbarian

Stephen Lang discusses the process of creating the villainous Khalar Zym and how he relates to Conan:

The character is really defined by the way he fights. And so we worked very carefully on choreographing fights that made sense for him, that had a kind of fluidity, because Conan is learning, and, in an odd way, Khalar Zym is sort of an antimentor to him. He teaches him how to be a warrior. He fights with him until the very end. During the final battle where [Conan] grips his father's sword, that's where Conan really becomes Conan the Barbarian. Up until then, he's really Conan in training. The fights, I wanted them to be brutal and poetic at the same time.

You're almost unrecognizable in that film, with your waist-length ponytail and gravelly voice. What was up with that voice?
You steep yourself in the script and see what voice emerges. There's a grandeur to it, there's almost an operatic quality, I think, to the piece itself, to the entire world there, and I wanted him to have a classical overtone to the voice. As barbaric as you may find Khalar Zym, he represents a certain form of civilization because he's attempting to impose his own order on things.

Terminator 5

Justin Lin says that he will be making the sequel to his previous movie Fast Five as his next project, but he is still involved in the Terminator franchise, including taking meetings with creator James Cameron:

" ‘Terminator' is something I've been having a lot of fun with. Just even this week, I had a great meeting with Arnold and James Cameron, just sitting down unofficially. And James is so gracious because he's not part of the project, he's not going to be producing, but it was great of him just as a filmmaker to take time out to just talk.

"I don't know where it's going to lead, but I never thought at this level I'm going to be able to meet filmmakers and be in situations where they're that gracious and insightful and so inclusive. And that's a franchise that I'm working on right now, but again, if I'm going to be kind of the gatekeeper to it, I want to make sure that I can hopefully build it up the right way – and so far that's been the most fun. Just to be able to take James Cameron's brain and for him to be so open even though he has no stakes in it, just as a human being, that's something that I will always remember as a part of my journey as a filmmaker."

Highlander Reboot

Speaking of which, Lin has confirmed that this is one of the dozen or so sequel and reboot projects he is no longer thinking of directing. However, he will remain with this particular project as an executive producer. [Heat Vision]

Wrath of the Titans

Sam Worthington offers a fairly intense explanation for how he's approaching the sequel to the reboot of Clash of the Titans:

You make "Clash 2" weighty. "Clash 1" is a video game. You make "Clash 2" weighty. You take everything you've learned, and go, I'm not doing this f—ing sh*t! I'm going to do a weighty script in a blockbuster. That's the bigness of a blockbuster. They're very hard because they're done by such a machine, so you try to get that weight that an independent can allow you, that freedom that they have on an independent script, and then you try to fit it into a blockbuster where there's a whole set of people who have a say. With something like "Clash 2," that's definitely what we've aimed for. And that's all I really want to say on that.

Doctor Who

Fringe

Actor William Sadler tweeted this photo of him on set with John Noble. Sadler has confirmed via Twitter that he has just shot a guest appearance on the show, which may well mean a return appearance for his season one character Dr. Sumner. [@Wm_Sadler]

True Blood

Here are some tidbits for upcoming episodes:

- Lafayette will get more involved in the witch war.
- The creepy doll and its connection to Baby Mikey will be explained.
- Mavis, the woman only Mikey and Lala can see, has a connection that will surprise us.
- Tommy continues to shift into other people.

The Walking Dead

Here are some promo photos for the season premiere, "Miles Behind Us." [multipleverses.com]

Well, it appears a celebrity is indeed making a cameo appearance as a zombie on The Walking Dead, assuming your definition of celebrity includes heavy metal guitarists and mid-level VH1 personalities. Here's a set photo of Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian as one of the walkers. [@Scott_Ian]

Terra Nova

That's intentional. I think he's a mysterious character. He's definitely a heroic character. The buck stops with him at this place, and he feels personally responsible for every life in Terra Nova. That's a job that never ends, and I think that breeds a certain type of stress. That kind of stress, of course, can have repercussions. When you couple that with the fact that he is the sole authority there, and through a period of years of trial and error, he's found what works. So a certain autocratic mind-set can set in, and it can become a my-way-or-the-highway philosophy of governing there, and that's not necessarily to everyone's liking. But his ultimate goals are idealistic, and his heart is pure.